North Korea fires rockets into sea on Francis’ first day in Seoul

North Korea fired a number of short-range rockets into the sea just as Pope Francis arrived in Seoul. Border security has been tightened. Meanwhile, Francis has sent a message to China

Domenico Agasso jrRome

Upon his arrival in South Korea, Francis was welcomed by President Park Geun-Hye and also by three rockets. The Pope flew into Incheon airport in Seoul at 10:15 (local time) this morning for a five-day visit. North Korea fired three short-range rockets from a 300-millimeter multiple rocket launcher, into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), shortly before the Pope’s arrival. This is according to South Korea's Ministry of Defence.

The rockets were fired at a range of 220 kilometres from a launch site near Wonsan, a city on the north-eastern coast and ended up in the East Sea. The launches began at 9:30 without any prior warning and continued for about 25 minutes.

“Our military has reinforced surveillance of the North and are on maximum alert for other potential launches,” South Korean military spokesman, Um Hyo-sik, said. North Korea had already launched some short-range missiles at the end of June and at the beginning of July, raising tensions in the region.

Meanwhile, this is the first time that a Pope has ever been allowed to fly over the People’s Republic of China. “I invoke the divine blessings of peace and well-being upon the nation”, Francis said in a message addressed to China’s President Xi Jinping, the Nation and its inhabitants. The message was sent as the Pope flew through Chinese airspace on his way to South Korea. As is customary, Pope Francis sent telegrams to the leaders of the nations over which he flew en route to Korea: Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia and China.

There has been no official response from China yet but The Global Times, a paper close to the ruling Communist party, titled one of its articles: “Pope's approved China fly-by seen as sign of 'possible détente'”. The newspaper recalls that the Holy See’s recognition of Taiwan and the fact that Beijing has claimed the right to nominate its own bishops are two obstacles to the normalization of Sino-Vatican relations.

According to Wang Meixiu, a research fellow with the Institute of World Religion Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, whom the article quotes, “allow[ing] the papal fly-by shows the Chinese government's courtesy.” Francis and China’s President Xi Jinping exchanged messages at the start of both of their mandates.

"There is still a way out, if the Vatican can reach an agreement with Chinese authorities over the candidates for bishops," Wang said.

Although the Taiwan question remains, the newspaper says that the fact that Francis comes from a developing country, has won him more popularity that his predecessor. In 1989, for example, John Paul II was not granted permission to fly over China.

Still, China has banned Christians from going on pilgrimages to South Korea, the government has detained some bishops who are faithful to the Pope and has had 230 crucifixes torn down and some churches in the province of Zeijiang demolished.